Jordan assumes U.N. Security Council chair as conflicts persist

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Jordan takes over the U.N. Security Council presidency on Wednesday, the first day of its two-year stint on a 15-nation body struggling to cope with conflicts in Syria, South Sudan, Central African Republic, Mali and elsewhere.

Jordan will join Chad, Chile, Lithuania and Nigeria on the council until December 31, 2015. The U.N. General Assembly elected Amman in early December as a replacement for Saudi Arabia after Riyadh turned down the seat in protest at the council's failure to end the Syrian war and act on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and other Middle East issues.